Tips for Successful Internet Marketing: Viral Campaigns

Want Your Message to Spread like Wildfire? Viral Marketing is a Cost Effective Way to Be Heard

Okay, so the phrase "viral marketing" conjures up images of diseases and salesmen. Not a pretty picture, if I say so myself. A  disease carrying salesman might as well be the grim reaper himself for all intents and purposes, as he'll be avoided with similar enthusiasm. What viral marketing really refers to is a message that spreads itself via casual contact: an advertising campaign so compelling that those who are exposed to it want to spread it to their peers.

Viral marketing on the internet is considered by most to be a relatively new phenomenon: it's only been around for about  decade or so by most accounts. Viral marketing can be very inexpensive when compared to traditional means of advertising. This is because of the fact that anyone who can get online has the ability to spread a message, and it won't cost them a dime. If the recipients of that message are motivated to relay the message to their peers, and their peers do the same, this results exponential growth of the messages' impact.

Today, people are subjected to a tidal wave of advertising, and it is nearly unavoidable. As a result, a majority of these ads are ignored. Magazines are filled with pages of flashy ads that are thumbed past without a second's thought, Commercial breaks on TV mean that consumers can run to the kitchen for a snack, and popup ads are shut before they even get a chance to load. The solution to this problem comes in the form of entertainment: make your message amusing enough, and the public will not only listen to what you have to say, but they will spread your message for you.

The internet is an ideal place for a viral marketing campaign to propagate: countless websites are dedicated to showcasing the day's most amusing content, and word of mouth travels at lightning speed. Once something starts to gain popularity, it spreads like wildfire, resulting in exponential growth. Not only will a successful internet marketing campaign spread itself, but people will actually pay attention to it and remember it's content.